CAIRO: The Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Egyptian People's Assembly Mostafa el-Fiqi said Egyptians living and working in Arab countries face the “worst kind of treatment and suffer from great humiliation.” During the meeting of the committee on Sunday, he called for the need to develop rules to protect Egyptians abroad, “like in the Philippines and the Gulf.” Fiqi stressed that the joint committee for foreign relations and manpower would hold a meeting next week to discuss the “project of establishing the Public Authority for protecting Egyptians abroad to reach safeguards and to ensure the protection of the Egyptians outside the borders of their homeland.” Member of Parliament Khalil Quetta, Under-Secretary of the Committee, said that Egyptians abroad are like “orphans” and called for more communication between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Egyptians abroad in order to “preserve their rights and dignity.” For the past few years, Egyptians working abroad have complained of poor treatment at the hands of their sponsors and bosses. The Egyptian government has repeatedly promised to intervene to ease their situation abroad. In response, Mohamed Abdel-Hakim, Assistant Foreign Minister for Migration, said that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is always bearing the mistakes of Egyptians abroad and the consular sector operates 24 hours a day to solve their problems.” **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
